Organic Evolution by Richard Swann LullTransactions of the American Microscopical Society, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct., 1917), pp. 281-282Published by: Wiley on behalf of American Microscopical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3221517 .

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AMERICAN MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY AMERICAN MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY

June 17, 1916. This method was devised to shorten the time for making reports on histologic specimens, and I find that it is in every respect equal to the regular routine procedure. The time is reduced to' three days together with a considerable saving in labor and re- agents.

1. Fix: 10% liquor formaldehyde in 80% alcohol, over night. 2. 95% alcohol, 8-10 hours. 3. Acetone, from one-half to two hours. 4. Chloroform-paraffin, over night in warm place. 5. Paraffin, four hours. 48? C., m. p., 2 hours; 52? C., m. p., 2 hours. 6. Embed.

H. R. EGGLESTON.

Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.

ORGANIC EVOLUTION

This book is a comprehensive statement of the more important facts and theories relating to organic evolution. It contains a per- fectly stupendous amount of material, gathered and organized from various sources, and is based on the author's twenty-three years of teaching. The excellence of the contribution is in this organization rather than in originality of conception or statement. It is quite safe to say that the result will prove a boon to the student and teacher, as a carefully worked out compend.

This volume differs from the general run of such books pub- lished in the last fifteen years, by its larger emphasis upon the geo- logical illustrations and its fuller treatment of the palseontological data.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I includes six chapters on the history of the idea of evolution; the organic king- dom; classification; geographic, bathymetric and geological distri- bution. Part II, under the general title "Mechanism of Evolution," treats in six chapters such subjects as natural, sexual and artificial selection, variation and mutation, heredity, inheritance of acquired characters, orthogenesis and kinetogenesis. Part III, of twenty-six chapters, entitled "Evidences of Evolution," is sub-divided into three sections: ontogeny; morphology and adaptations; and Palhe- ontology.

June 17, 1916. This method was devised to shorten the time for making reports on histologic specimens, and I find that it is in every respect equal to the regular routine procedure. The time is reduced to' three days together with a considerable saving in labor and re- agents.

1. Fix: 10% liquor formaldehyde in 80% alcohol, over night. 2. 95% alcohol, 8-10 hours. 3. Acetone, from one-half to two hours. 4. Chloroform-paraffin, over night in warm place. 5. Paraffin, four hours. 48? C., m. p., 2 hours; 52? C., m. p., 2 hours. 6. Embed.

H. R. EGGLESTON.

Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.

ORGANIC EVOLUTION

This book is a comprehensive statement of the more important facts and theories relating to organic evolution. It contains a per- fectly stupendous amount of material, gathered and organized from various sources, and is based on the author's twenty-three years of teaching. The excellence of the contribution is in this organization rather than in originality of conception or statement. It is quite safe to say that the result will prove a boon to the student and teacher, as a carefully worked out compend.

This volume differs from the general run of such books pub- lished in the last fifteen years, by its larger emphasis upon the geo- logical illustrations and its fuller treatment of the palseontological data.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I includes six chapters on the history of the idea of evolution; the organic king- dom; classification; geographic, bathymetric and geological distri- bution. Part II, under the general title "Mechanism of Evolution," treats in six chapters such subjects as natural, sexual and artificial selection, variation and mutation, heredity, inheritance of acquired characters, orthogenesis and kinetogenesis. Part III, of twenty-six chapters, entitled "Evidences of Evolution," is sub-divided into three sections: ontogeny; morphology and adaptations; and Palhe- ontology.

281 281

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NOTES, REVIEWS, ETC. NOTES, REVIEWS, ETC.

The evolution of the vertebrates is discussed at considerable length, including chapters on the reptiles, the birds, the archaic mammals, the modern mammals, the carnivores, the proboscideans, the horses, the camels, and man.

It is well indexed and illustrated.

Organic Evolution, by Richard Swann Lull. Illustrated by 253 figures; 729 pages. The Macmillan Co., 1917.

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE

In this book Osborn undertakes to deal with evolution in terms of energy,-of action, reaction, and interaction,-rather than in terms of mechanism. Life, whether simple or complex, is chiefly concerned with capture of energy, storage of energy, and release of energy. Mechanism has taken form about these physicochemical processes. The physicochemical actions and interactions entering into life-phenomena the author sums up as follows: (1) those of the inorganic environment; (2) those of the developing organism; (3) those of the germ or heredity chromatin, and (4) the life en- vironment.

Evolution is proceeding in each of these realms, and the sci- entific and philosophic problem is to discover how these four evolu- tions interact and are adjusted to each other. In particular it is to be determined how the evolution of the germ plasm is influenced by and adjusted to the changes in the other three.

The treatment of life origins revolves about the following proposition: "Every physicochemical action and reaction concerned in the transformation, conservation, and dissipation of energy pro- duces also either as a direct result or as a by-product a physico- chemical agent of interaction which permeates and affects the organ- ism as a whole or affects some special part. Thru such interaction the organism is made a unit, and acts as one, because the activities of all the parts are correlated." And thus as the evolution of action and interaction, of receptors and effectors, has proceeded there has been a corresponding evolution of interaction which is responsible for the harmony within the organism. Heredity becomes, in this conception, an outcome of the evolution of interaction.

The evolution of the vertebrates is discussed at considerable length, including chapters on the reptiles, the birds, the archaic mammals, the modern mammals, the carnivores, the proboscideans, the horses, the camels, and man.

It is well indexed and illustrated.

Organic Evolution, by Richard Swann Lull. Illustrated by 253 figures; 729 pages. The Macmillan Co., 1917.

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE

In this book Osborn undertakes to deal with evolution in terms of energy,-of action, reaction, and interaction,-rather than in terms of mechanism. Life, whether simple or complex, is chiefly concerned with capture of energy, storage of energy, and release of energy. Mechanism has taken form about these physicochemical processes. The physicochemical actions and interactions entering into life-phenomena the author sums up as follows: (1) those of the inorganic environment; (2) those of the developing organism; (3) those of the germ or heredity chromatin, and (4) the life en- vironment.

Evolution is proceeding in each of these realms, and the sci- entific and philosophic problem is to discover how these four evolu- tions interact and are adjusted to each other. In particular it is to be determined how the evolution of the germ plasm is influenced by and adjusted to the changes in the other three.

The treatment of life origins revolves about the following proposition: "Every physicochemical action and reaction concerned in the transformation, conservation, and dissipation of energy pro- duces also either as a direct result or as a by-product a physico- chemical agent of interaction which permeates and affects the organ- ism as a whole or affects some special part. Thru such interaction the organism is made a unit, and acts as one, because the activities of all the parts are correlated." And thus as the evolution of action and interaction, of receptors and effectors, has proceeded there has been a corresponding evolution of interaction which is responsible for the harmony within the organism. Heredity becomes, in this conception, an outcome of the evolution of interaction.

282 282

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